Centacare Catholic Country SA has partnered with Uni Hub Spencer Gulf to offer scholarships for undergraduate students studying the supported Bachelor of Social Work course through Uni Hub’s Port Pirie and Port Augusta campuses.
The scholarships, worth $2,500 each, will be available from 2021 to local students who can demonstrate financial hardship, are interested in pursuing a career in regional, rural and remote South Australia following completion of their qualification and who are willing to undertake placement with CCCSA during their academic program.
Centacare CEO, Dr Jen Cleary said the organisation is a major employer of qualified social workers right across the region.
“Centacare Catholic is delighted to partner with the Uni Hub. Social work and social workers play a key role in many of the services we deliver across regional South Australia, and the Uni Hub is a great model of nurturing local talent right where people live,” Dr Cleary said.
“It is a good fit with our own values around what we call ‘plantation growth’ – supporting local capacity and capability development. We look forward to building a fruitful partnership, and to supporting the students on their learning journey.”
Uni Hub Spencer Gulf CEO Anita Crisp said the scholarships highlight the local opportunities available for people who might be contemplating university study.
“The goal of Uni Hub is to provide locally accessible and locally supported university study that will help ‘grow our own’ local skilled workforce. We are really excited to be partnering with Centacare to offer scholarships that will help to achieve this outcome,” she said.
“We operate study centres in Port Pirie and Port Augusta, which are available free of charge to any student enrolled with a tertiary provider, but we also work with partner universities to support local delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications to specifically meet areas of local professional and technical workforce demand.
“Social workers have been consistently identified by regional employers as one of these key gaps. We have been seeing strong growth in the number of students enrolling in this degree, which is fantastic. There are certainly a lot of jobs for graduates right here in the region.”
Pictured: Uni Hub Spencer Gulf CEO Anita Crisp, left, with Centacare Catholic Country SA CEO Dr Jen Cleary.
